The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

Owner Brunix. You will never own my soul. I couldn’t respond to you, because you demanded it as your right, something you bought and paid for. When you ask me out of love, I will reconsider.” She put more distance between them.
    “Will you, really?” He stepped between Katrina and the door so fast she barely saw him move. “Will you give me your soul if I ask out of love?”
    “Maybe. Maybe not. I said I would reconsider if you could ever raise your self-esteem high enough to risk asking .” She looked up at his tight face. He stood head and shoulders taller than she—another indication of his outland blood. She didn’t let his height or his authority intimidate her.
    “Get out of my sight. Get up into the loft and work on that blasted shawl until you go blind. Work until your fingers are bloody and your back permanently curved. For I’ll not release you from bondage until no one has any further use for your mind, your hands, or your body. Even The Simeon won’t be able to use you.”

Chapter 20
     
    ‘ B reathe in three counts, hold three, out three, hold three. Again,” Jack instructed Officer Lanciar as he himself engaged the first stages of a trance. He wasn’t about to send this unknown sensitive in search of a dragon alone. Jack intended to be right on his heels—psychically speaking.
    “Still your mind. Breathe in, hold, breathe out. Again. Let go of your thoughts. Drift free of your body,” he continued the monotonous litany.
    The moon rose high and bright above the canyon. Frigid winds continued to howl and moan. Inside the long, narrow cave the three men were snug, almost comfortably warm. Corby crouched on a protruding ledge, head under his wing; oblivious to the proceedings. Fraank snored quietly on the other side of their campfire. The older man had feigned boredom from the long and repetitious exercises to cover his exhaustion. The mines had taken their toll on his lungs as well as his strength. If Jack didn’t find the dragon soon, Fraank might not live to return to his daughter.
    Lanciar fidgeted, like any first-year apprentice learning the basics of magic. Mental and physical disciplines were things he’d learned during his years in the army. But this control over heartbeat and breath was taxing his patience.
    A vibration of power rippled from Lanciar. He had achieved the first stage of trance. His latent magic was set free of mental inhibitions. Jack’s body hummed, seeking a resonance with the other man. When they were tuned, Jack was ready to follow wherever Lanciar led.
    “Anchor your body with the Kardia. Make if one with the land beneath you so that you may achieve the Gaia. The oneness with all that lives and breathes and exists.” Jack did the same. Automatically his blood pulsed in accord with the living rhythms of the planet and homed in on the magnetic forces of the nearest pole.
    Lanciar took a little longer, not yet confident enough to release his body to instinct.
    “Let go, Lanciar. Let your body find the Kardia. From the Kardia you were conceived and born. To the Kardia you will return. It is your home, nurturer of all life. Release your body to the loving arms of the Kardia. ”
    “It’s too much like death,” Lanciar protested. At least he didn’t break his trance. Five times they’d gotten this far and four times he had fallen out of rapport at the moment of release.
    “What is death but one more phase of life? Touch it now, and you will never fear it again. Touch the Gaia. Touch all life.” Jack’s blood sang with power and joy as he followed his own instructions. Never before had he achieved such a sense of unity with life. He released his grief over the deaths of all those who had touched him with love and friendship.
    Without listening, he heard underground water gurgling, the stones breathed, the soil mourned for the loss of the tall trees that had once anchored it to the planet. Jack knew where every bird nested, every mouse hid her burrow. He smelled the beginning of new leaves on the bushes. He sensed the stars wheeling in the great dance of life. He heard the moon pass through the sky.
    He was a part of it all.
    Lanciar followed him into the unity of life, death, renewal. Together they soared through the universe with their homeland.
    Power beckoned them from all directions. Every living mote contained power, eager to be tapped and joined with the thriving life of the magician. Great blue pools and rivers of power surged through the